Re: Nuclear reactor
Bob Condon (rec@EPOCH.COM)
Fri, 16 Dec 1994 10:26:08 +0500
> Do any of you know of a game called nuclear reactor or radioactive reactor
> where a team has to move a coffee can full of water (?) by means of ropes and
> pulleys, empty it into a receptacle and bring it back to the original
> position. If you have the plans for this game, would you please send them
Good game and I have used a couple varieties of this at Team meetings
with software engineers... Pretty interesting results.
Object Of Exercise: having a group discuss the problem, have the
natural leaders take control, plan and execute. Do a final
discussion about what occurred... moderator TAKE NOTES
Object Of Game: Take a 3/4 filled can of water, and pour its contents WITHOUT
SPILLING IT, into a second can 10 feet away.
RULES:
1. There is a transport device (see below) which they will be provided
to transport the can containing the material.
2. No one can touch a can.. You will be dead if you do leaving the team short
one member (leaving one rope on the transport device un-manned).
3.No one can be within a 4 foot of the can. There will be a ribbon one each
rope of the transport device marking this location.
4. The can must be transported with the transport device, AND POURED INTO THE
OTHER CAN.
5. Ropes on the transport device can not be exchanged with another team member
INSTEAD, you are assigned a rope and you must always hold onto it. You can move yourself with the rope to another position (crossing ropes etc)
[needed when pouring can into second can].
6. No fighting. Work as a team.
SETUP: You tell everyone that there is a radioactive materials
in the can. They can transport the material using the transport
device to a safe location and save the world.
If they touch the can, they are dead.
If they should come within 4 feet of the can, then they are blinded and
must be blind folded.
They have [xxx ] minutes to plan and then will be timed
on the execution of transporting the material.
Materials:
6 - 10 foot pieces of nylon rope (1/4 ")
1 bungie cord which is larger that the circumference of the #10 can.
2- number 10 cans.
You put down plastic if inside!!
Assembly of Transport Device:
Take the clips OFF the bunglie cord.
Fasten the bungie cord to make a circle larger than the can...
I recommend about a 1/2 inch larger in diameter. I usually
make an S out of a coat hanger (SMALL) and pinch the two ends
of the cord with the s to hold it (probably not clear!)..Some
bungies come with an S which is used to hold on the big clips on the
end ... send me mail if you need further clarification..
Now tie the 6 pieces of rope to the bungle cord making
it look like a wheel hub (bungie cord) and spokes (rope)
\ | /
\ | /
\ | /
\ | /
\ | /
/----------\
| |
| |
| |
\----------/
/ | \
/ | \
/ | \
/ | \
/ | \
Tie a black ribbon on each rope 4 feet out.. If any
hand hits the black ribbon, then they are binded.
Results I have seen:
People in customer oriented environments plan this fairly
quickly (30 minutes) and execute in 6 minutes. They worked
together to see how they could solve the problem, they tended to
take more planning ideas up front, came up with one
solution and then did it.
People in R+D environments where they tend to work more
independent of each other tend to take longer to plan
(up to 1 hour), spilled the contents because everyone
fights over the leadership position, and execution can
take up to 20 minutes.
Biased.. Well I worked in the R+D environment and saw this happen
and then executed in the CS environment with different results.
The real problem was that the engineers refused to yield the leadership
to each other, so they could not come to a consencious. Next, when they
executed the task, one engineer woudl decide that he was going to do to
it HIS way and disrupted the team.
---------
Hints:
The bungie cord is LARGER than the can so two people have to
always be contantly be pulling on the ropes (attached to the bunglie
cord otherwise the can falls through the bungle. If a third person inadvertantly
pulls on a rope, this may make the can slip (because they are making close to
a circle with the bungie cord)...
Its one of the best team games I know of...
============
A second way to do this is to make the same transport devide,
take 4 inch drain pipe with 2 capes on the end and put 10 pounds of sand inside.
You need one setup for each patrol if you want to make it a race.
Next you put physical barriers in place ( ropes waist high to climb over,
tables to climb under) in the path where they will transport
the nuclear cannister (of course painted yellow and flourescent orange).
they are given 20 minutes to plan how they will carry this cannister, then
set up at the start line and then it is run. The winning team is the team
that does not drop the cannister and is first over the finish line.
if they all drop the cannister, then you start it again...
==========
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
